“The
traveler sees what he sees; the tripper what he has come to see.”
-G.K. Chesterton.

From
the time British poet/ musician/ filmmaker Steve Scott arrived at St.
Marks in the Bowery with a plastic bag full of poems, he has been
playing havoc with the three Ps of poetry, prose, and performance,
combining them in new and startling ways. A
graduate of Croydon College of Art, he has written and performed widely
in the UK, where his multimedia film, Correspondences, was selected for
London’s “Expanded Cinema” festival.

Stateside, he's best known for his mid- '80s rock record, Love in the Western World, on the
indie Exit label. Appearing without fanfare, this auspicious debut
floored fans and sent usually verbose critics searching for
superlatives. Steven Soles of the Alpha Band was the producer, with the
post-punk 77s fueling Scott's literate mix of humor and insight,
exactly on target for the era's new-wave sensibilities. For "This Sad
Music", the album's showpiece, Scott juxtaposed a televangelist with a
newscast of dying whales, intoning the resulting lyrical collision over
the 77s' minimal soundbed.

His
next foray found him reciting poetry over tape loops of ambient music
on The Butterfly Effect. The
album’s twelve minute plus opus, “No Memory of You” came courtesy of The Boundaries, Scott’s ongoing
series of travelog/ poetry journals which have continued to spill back
and forth between print and performance. Empty Orchestra, the literal
meaning of “Karaoke”, was an instrumental CD, with lyrics printed
inside so that the listener could be “Steve Scott for a day” by reading
along to the music.

Scott
returned to museum installations in the late ‘90s to stage Crossing
the Boundaries, a traveling exhibit with painter Gaylen Stewart
which
toured worldwide from the US to China. He currently heads CANA, an
international arts group which has held conferences in Asia and Eastern
Europe, from Bali to Bulgaria. He writes and lectures often on the arts
in the US and UK, and is the author of two books, Crying for a Vision
and Other Essays, and Like a
House on Fire: Renewal of the Arts in a
Postmodern Culture. He holds an M.A. in Global Leadership.

As
I write, The Boundaries
circulate somewhere in small-run chapbooks. Tapes and CDs of his
various projects, shrapnel from legendary indie labels, have scattered
to the four winds.
Scott’s continuing creativity and penchant to experiment have inspired
more than one artist to leave the mainstream and make a hard left for
parts unknown. His seemingly inexhaustible gift for renewing burnt out
artists has led some to see him as a patron saint for a Lost
Generation. But the last word may belong to Peter Banks of UK band,
After the Fire: “A uniquely gifted musical poet? One thing you cannot
do with Steve Scott is categorise him.”

Crying for a Vision, a
collection of essays concerned with arriving at a truly Biblical
approach to art, lays out for the reader precisely why (SteveScott's)
art has
always been so strong.... His suggestions for basic principles of
artistry, based upon a nuanced and comprehensive grasp of
scriptural passages, are profound and deeply Biblical. If you are an
artist (or a pastor), or are simply interested in art, it is
imperative, for the good of the Church, that you read and digest this
book." -Kemper Crabb -HM
magazine.

Kemper Crabb has played in
Caedmon's Call, ArkAngel, Redemption, and Atomic Opera. His albums
include The Vigil, Live at Cornerstone 2000, A Medieval Christmas, and
Flotsam and Jetsam.

Chris Well is
the author of the comic mystery novels, Forgiving Solomon Long, Deliver
Us from Evelyn, and Tribulation House.

May 2008 was the last print edition
of CCM, which continues as an online magazine at ccmmagazine.com. The
magazine, which began in July of 1978, celebrated three decades as a
print magazine. Subscribers were offered the option of receiving HM,
beginning with issue no. 132, July/ Aug. 2008.

"Author, poet, and musician SteveScottshares his
thought-provoking views on the Bible and art in Crying
for a Vision and Other Essays.
Yes, a must-read."
-Chris Well.

"needed
in our post-grunge world."

"Crying for a Vision and Other
Essays" book review

by Joe Tremblay

"The Permanent Things in a Bookcase"

"Who would have
expected a rock-n-roller to have much to say about religion and the
arts? Steve Scott has a
message, and he delivers it well.

The primary audience for this book
is the Christian artist. That said, I am Christian but not an artist
(at least not in the traditional sense); I work as a software engineer;
but maybe I am a poet at heart: because Steve Scott’s book nudged at my
heart and mind. His book needs to be widely read.

One thing that I took away from
reading this book is the importance of a sense of wonder. The writer
who has most influenced me, G.K. Chesterton, had this sense of wonder
in his life and in his art; so this element is often in my mind.
Scott’s book reminded me of the need for Christians to evangelize
through this sense of wonder (the apostolate of wonder??) when he
wrote: “I believe that Christian artists can take on the prophetic
mandate in their work, and confront more deeply than others who try.”

It is needed in our post-grunge
world." -Joe Tremblay.

"SteveScottis a rare individual who combines a deep
love and understanding of Scripture with a passion for the arts."
-Steve
Turner, author of The Gospel According to the Beatles.

"A
uniquely gifted musical poet? One thing you cannot do withSteve
Scottis
categorise him." -Peter Banks, keyboardist for
British
rock band After the Fire , known for "Der Kommissar", "Laser Love""One
Rule For You", "Wild West Show" and numerous other songs.

"SteveScottlinks
a number of fields of inquiry that are usually perceived as unrelated.
In doing so he hopes to open wider possibilities for Christians in the
arts, who may perhaps be relieved to find that in many ways they were
right all along." -Rupert Loydell, author of The Museum of Light.

Or order from your
favorite bookstore.
paperback: ISBN:
978-1-4259-7754-2

cryingforavision

When
it first appeared in Britain
some fifteen years ago, Crying
for a Vision was met
with sighs of relief: "At last an book about art by a working artist." "SteveScott offers a
challenge to
artists and a manifesto for the arts."

This new expanded edition
includes an introduction and study guide, four newly- collected essays
and an interview with the author. New cover art by Michael Redmond.
2007.Cryingfor a Vision

Contents:

Introduction:
A Horse of a Hundred ColorsPart
One: Crying for a Vision:Are
You Responsible for This Monstrosity?The
Act of Seeing With One's Own EyesHow
Can You Use Something That Leaks?Nothing
More Than Dirt?Freedom,
Power, and CreativityLiving
Sacrifice/ Transformed MindWhere
Language Ends?Towards
a Lost Wax MindOnly
a BeginningPart
Two: Scratching the Surface:The
Light By Which We SeeCrossing
the BoundariesFear
and Multicultural TremblingWhen
Worlds Collide: The Novels of Shusaku EndoPart
Three: Work in Progress:Emotional
Tourist: An Interview with Steve ScottCrying
for a Vision Study GuideEndnotes

Now at Amazon

Like
a House on Fire:Renewal
of the Arts in a Postmodern Culture(Wipf
and Stock edition shown).

"Like
a House
on
Fire gives fresh light
and
insight into how not to retreat into the margins of postmodern
analysis. This book is a wake-up call to the Church and will shake the
arts world to its foundational roots."
-Nigel Goodwin, Genesis Arts
Trust.

"Timely and thought- provoking,Like
aHouse
onFireinspires us to abandon our
ethnocentric
worldviews and embrace the arts as a bridge to other cultures." -Dr.
Colin Harbinson, International Dean, College of the Arts, University of
the Nations.

likeahouseonfire

In
the wake of Western culture's postmodern shift, is it possible to
express ultimate truth, or declare absolutes of value?

In
this engaging
collection of essays, Steve Scott explores the possibilities
for
the renewal of culture and the individual.
Published by Cornerstone Press,
1997.
Reprinted by Wipf and Stock.

Contents:

IntroductionBurning
Down the HouseShaking
the FoundationsWhat
is Truth (in Art)?Where
Do We Go From Here?Keeping
the Body in MindNo
Other FoundationA
Jar of Dead FliesBeautiful
Feet and/ or Dirty FeetOverlapping
CirclesMasks
and RootsThe
Life of SignsThe
Well is Deep, and You Have No BucketDropping
Flowers in a BasketCoda:
Am I Really Here or Is It Only Art?Appendices:Gospel
of John: A Study ProjectLighting
a CandleResourcesBibliographyIndex

"It
Was Goodis good,
very, very good. For goodness' sake, taste its
goodness for yourself."
-Luci Shaw, author of The Green Earth: Poems of
Creation.

Read
this book and love God and life more
deeply. Then give a copy to all your friends." -Denis Haack,
Co-director of Ransom Fellowship.

It
Was Good:Making
Art to the Glory of Godbuilds
on the foundation laid in other
books that have explored the validity of a Christian's calling to, and
involvement in, the arts.

This collection of
essays takes the next step in discussing the artist's calling.
Published bySquare Halo Books, 2007. Previous edition published 2000.
Includes "Truth" bySteveScott.

Farewell
Meal 1. European Son: Opening Sunday 6th of June Holland First
Day The City Tomorrow The World Loops The Canal Tour Mime Two First
Show Carte
Postale, Belgium: Projection
Belgium/4AD This Monkey's Gone to Heaven Only a Couple of
Thousand
Other Appearances All Night in
AmersterdamEarth Died Screaming

2.
Perfect Strangers: Perfect Strangers A Poem
Based on Van Gogh's 'The Raising of Lazurus' The Lost Child

3.
Out of Order: The Cards The Great War With Any Luck The Dancers Speak
Wish

The Arts: A Biblical
Framework Colin Harbinson
Arts and Spiritual Warfare
Art and Revelation
The Test of Humility Scratching the Surface
Steve
Scott
Lost Steps/ Drawing Conclusions
Art and Prophetic Confrontation
Like a House on Fire Always is Never a Long
Time Rupert
Loydell
Abstract Art and Spirituality
Raids on the Inarticulate Artistic and Spiritual
Priorities Rick and Brenda Beerhost
Artistic and Spiritual Priorities
Notes Suggested Reading